Women earn £3,000 a year less than men as wage gap rises by 30%, STUC says

Women in Scotland now earn £3,000 less per year than men on average, according to data analysis from the country’s largest trade union body.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) report found that the gender pay gap has risen by 30% over the last year.

The analysis, using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, found the mean gender pay gap rose from 6.4% in 2023 to 8.3% in 2024.

STUC said that while the average man saw an hourly pay increase of £1 in the last year, the average woman only saw her earnings rise by 74p.

The typical woman in Scotland earns £16.74 an hour, while the typical man earns £18.44 an hour.

The trade union body said the figures represented a “significant reversal” of previous trends which saw the pay gap narrow.

The analysis showed the widening gap is being driven by increasing pay inequality in the public sector.

Despite the overall rise, the gender pay gap within the private sector has fallen  – but it still remains much higher on average than wages in the public sector.

Roz Foyer, general secretary of the STUC, told ministers to “pay up for women”.

She said: “It’s simply staggering and scandalous that, despite progress having been made, the gender pay gap in Scotland has risen by 30%.

“Women can now expect to take home an inexcusable £3,000 less than their male counterparts.

“With the gap growing more in the public sector than the private sector, it confirms entirely what trade unions have long been calling for: public sector workers deserve better pay.

“The Scottish Government must pay up for women.”

The data comes as Unison’s local government workers continue their dispute over pay and conditions, with a majority of those involved in the action being women.

Ms Foyer added: “With three-quarters of the local government workforce being female and with over £1.5 billion having landed into the lap of the Scottish Government as a result of the UK Government’s Budget, there is simply no excuse for them to ignore the voices of women workers any longer.

“Ministers must return to the negotiating table. Our public sector workers deserve a wage that represents their worth and it’s entirely within the power of the Scottish Government to make that happen.”

First Minister John Swinney suggested last week that £1.5 billion from the UK Government has already been spent on public sector pay deals.

“My expectation is not that any new capacity will open up in this financial year,” he told MSPs.

“I expect that the resources that have been allocated so far will be required to enable us to balance the budget during this year, because of the pay and inflationary costs that we are facing.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Compared to the UK as a whole, Scotland still has a lower median gender pay gap and more women earning the real living wage or more.

“Scotland also has the second-highest median gross weekly full-time earnings for women in the UK after London.

“While employment law is reserved, the Scottish Government is working to reduce the gender pay gap and promote equality through its Fair Work approach.

“The pay offer for local government workers in Scotland is better than offers in the rest of the UK. It will see the lowest-paid workers receive a 5.63% pay increase and most local government workers receive more than 4%. This delivers what GMB, Unite and Unison asked for from councils at the end of July.”